


Wounds Like This

by rhodrymavelyne



Series: More Than a Jinrou [4]
Category: Shiki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-12
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-07-14 13:58:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7174613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhodrymavelyne/pseuds/rhodrymavelyne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is Part 4 of 'More than a Jinrou'. Ozaki Toshio is trying to lose himself, or perhaps find himself again in Natsuno's arms, in being his victims, but he's haunted by memories of Muroi Seishin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wounds Like This

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided that 'Part 3: Don't Let Me Be Alone' and 'Part 4: Wounds Like This' take place after 'Reunion'. 'Part 1: Dealing with the Hunger' and 'Part 2: Silence and Need' take place before 'Reunion', but after 'After the Explosion'. 'More than a Jinrou' takes place in the same universe as 'Hooked', 'I Need You', and 'Confession'. I don't own 'Shiki', but the characters often own my imagination. :)=

Blood flowed from his neck into Natsuno’s exquisite little mouth. Toshio groaned, thrusting upward, as if trying to force his entire being into this slight, delicate vampire. 

Wounds like this were the best. Better than Chizuka’s flirtatious nibbling at his neck. Better than Natsuno’s cautious, gentlemanly bite on his arm, giving him freedom.

Far better than the gush of crimson, which spilled unrelentingly out of a perfect white wrist. 

“Seishin!” He’d screamed the name, wanting to shake the fragile, limp form, still bound in a yukata, as if Seishin was a prisoner in his own clothes. “Seishin!” No, he couldn’t shake him. If he shook Seishin, while he was bleeding, he might truly lose him. Forever. “How could you do something so stupid?!” 

“Only one way out.” The words were a gentle, polite murmur, yet touched with the wilful determination which was uniquely Seishin. No one in Sotoba would have guessed that of Toshio and Seishin, Seishin was the more stubborn of the two. The one more likely to dig his heels in and resist the part he had to play in the village. “I’m sorry, Toshio.”

Stupid fool. As if a faint apology would excuse anything, cancel out anything! Stupid! Toshio squirmed and writhed under the slip of a vampire, who was his only anchor. 

Pin me down, Natsuno! Take it all, every memory, every regret, every ghost of Seishin which haunts me every time I close my eyes! I could let the village go. Sotoba was everything I was, but ultimately that wasn’t much. Blood and fire washed away everything. Perhaps it’s right that it should. Cleansing Toshio’s, as well Sotoba’s past away. 

However, he couldn’t let go of Seishin. Those green eyes, always so thoughtful and introspective, had been bright with horror, until Seishin started turning away. 

If only he’d grabbed Seishin, tried to explain, tried to make him understand! It was too late. Seishin was gone. Toshio was all alone. 

No, he had Natsuno. He’d hold onto Natsuno with every bit of strength he had left. 

“I’m still of some use, even if it’s only nourishment,” Toshio said, trying to laugh, but it came out a rasp. 

The fangs stung his flesh, as they withdrew from his neck. Yes, they were withdrawing, as the boy pulled away from him, leaving him limp and exhausted. 

“Don’t stop,” Toshio whispered. His lower regions were sticky with spent passion, but he didn’t care. He reached up to pull Natsuno back down, but he was too weak. “Don’t stop, Natsuno. Take it all. Take the rest.”

“Leaving me alone with a corpse,” Natsuno said. How tenderly this boy looked at him with his luminous, violet eyes. How could anyone have thought this child was cold? For Toshio, Natsuno had been an angel of mercy. Perfectly content to bear the burden of Toshio’s vengeance against all of the shiki, even if it took him down with them. “No, Toshio.”

“Finally making some demands yourself, are you?” Toshio said, smiling. He felt strangely good. Weakened, but a little energized. It hadn’t been like this, when Chizuka fed on him. Was Natsuno’s bite somehow special? 

“You refused to put my broken heart to rest,” Natsuno said. His manner was very soft, but he had none of Seishin’s gentle submissiveness. “Why should I do the same for you?”

“Minx,” Toshio said, but there was no spite in his voice. 

He wasn’t sure why Natsuno flinched at the word. The boy looked away, at the window, as if he expected someone to be there. 

“Got company with you?” Toshio asked. He smiled, baring his teeth. “My invitation is only for you. No other shiki.”

“Not even Seishin?” Natsuno asked. He stared at Toshio intently. Intimately. Was there a hint of jealousy mixed in with the sympathy?

“I just can’t stop thinking about him,” Toshio whispered. One of his hands flailed about in a failed attempt to cover his face. His arm was too tired to move. He closed his eyes, instead.

Bad mistake. Seishin waited, right behind his eyelids. He was right there, behind the wheel of his car, driving on the opposite side of the road, out of Sotoba. He turned his head, ever so slightly. Tendrils of lavender hair trembled with the movement. His eyes met Toshio’s.

Seishin’s green eyes had the faintest red gleam, as they moved over his former friend. Taking in the white coat, splattered with blood. Just as Seishin’s skin had once been splattered with blood. Only the blood had been Seishin’s own. The blood on Toshio’s coat was from someone else. 

How ironic that Seishin had become shiki, not him. Only how could Seishin drive in the daylight?

“I met him,” Natsuno said. “Your Seishin. He’s a jinrou, like me.” The young vampire uttered the words cautiously, with especial gentleness. As if he feared they might bruise, or hurt Toshio. 

Yuuki Natsuno was still amazingly kind, for all he was one of the shiki. 

“I suppose that explains why his eyes had a red glow, but he was driving from the Kirishiki house in the daylight,” Toshio said. His lips were pulling back, letting a dry, humourless sound escape from his throat, expell itself into the air. Was that sound actually a laugh? “I wonder if they got to him, before he disappeared.”

“Possibly,” Yuuki Natsuno said. His violet eyes gleamed with an unearthly light. “They had a way of finding our weaknesses and preying upon them.”

“Mine was my wife,” Toshio said. He could almost picture it. Kyoko, bored, wandering off the Ozaki estate, only to meet Tatsumi, who’d be at his most charming. Kyoko had been only too eager for the company of handsome young men. She’d thought her husband was such a man, but what a disappointing husband he’d turned out to be. Not that his mother’s constant presence had made things any easier. “She’s the one who let the okaegari into our house.”

“She may not have known better. My father did the same thing,” Natsuno said. He lifted a hand tentatively towards Toshio’s cheek. “How could we have explained what was happening? To either one of them? You didn’t know Tatsumi could move around during the day.” Natsuno dropped his hand abruptly. He looked away. 

He wants to reach out to me, Toshio thought. Not for me, but to me. He’s still shy, though. Even after having me in so many ways, having each other, he’s still hesitant about casual touch. Or does he still think he doesn’t have the right to?

“If only I’d talked to you,” Toshio said. He willed his arm to move. Proximity to Natsuno gave it strength. He reached out, seizing Natsuno’s hand in his own. He brought it back, pressing the slender fingers against his cheek. “You ran away, before I could speak.” Natsuno’s skin was warm. Warm with Toshio’s own blood. “Just like you’re trying to run away, now. You’re looking for an excuse to say goodbye, Natsuno, aren’t you? Just like everyone else in my life.”

Natsuno flinched, a slight shudder which ran through his slender frame. It reminded Toshio too much of Seishin shuddering, before he turned and ran away from him. Natsuno stared at him with eyes, which swam with a hundred unspoken things. He ran his hand down Toshio’s cheek. His fingers trembled a little bit, as they lingered over the stubbled flesh. 

Was there just a hint of desperation, of need? 

“Just because I’m saying goodbye doesn’t mean I’m leaving you forever,” Natsuno murmured. He withdrew his fingers with slow reluctance from Toshio’s cheek. 

“Don’t go,” Toshio whispered. He wanted to reach out for Natsuno’s hand once more, but he’d lost the will to move. “Stay with me. Don’t be alone.”

“You need time to recover,” Natsuno said. He moved off the bed, gathering the fallen shreds of clothes. His pants were a shredded mess. Natsuno pulled what was left of them up his slender legs. “For your blood to replenish.”

“That’s never worked for any other shiki. Leaving their victim alone, letting them recover,” Toshio observed. He tried to keep his voice dry and disapassionate, but a strange ache knotted in his belly, as he watched Natsuno button up his shirt. It had survived better than his pants. Toshio couldn’t spot any blood stains upon it. Natsuno was a very tidy eater, considering how…intense…the moment of feeding had been. The shirt was dark colored, though. Perhaps Toshio couldn’t see any spots, because of its hue. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to make you something to eat, before I go,” Natsuno said. “My mom was eccentric, in many ways. One of them was she showed me how to cook.” Dressed, he moved away from the bed, towards the open doorway. “I’ll bring it to you. Stay here.”

“And what will you eat?” Toshio asked. The ache was spreading through his chest, quickening in his loins. He stared at Natsuno’s, his slender hips, the curve of his torso. Somehow, it was like looking at a woman who should be yours. “Or rather who?”

“Who?” Natsuno froze for a second, but he didn’t turn around. No, it was not like looking at a woman. Toshio found himself thinking of Seishin talking about a book. All of his lavender hair had been standing on end. His green eyes had been bright, almost feverish. 

“The king of the sky gods stole a beautiful boy to be his cupbearer,” Seishin said. “He made that boy immortal, his beauty eternal, but who’s to say he wanted the gift?”

“Well, there are polite ways of handling the situation,” Toshio said. “He could have simply satisfied the perverted old god, before heading off to sport with younger, more appetizing sky goddesses…and godlings.” He gave Seishin a very impudent wink. 

“Toshio!” Seishin’s cheeks had colored, but he smiled, as if Toshio’s story gave him a secret joy. Toshio’s studied the curve of his friend’s lips as he smiled, the delicate bend of his neck. Maybe they shared a little of the same joy. 

“Planning to go find yourself a younger, more appetizing victim, now you’ve left the old one exhausted?” Toshio asked. Every word burned, as he spat it out. “Or maybe you’ve already got one waiting for you?”

“The only thing that’s waiting for me is whatever is in your fridge,” Natsuno said, without turning around. “I’ll be back, with some food.”

He walked out of the bedroom. Toshio could only lay there, with the strange spasms tingling through his chest. 

“I’m sure you will,” he growled in a low voice he was sure the young jinrou could hear.

**Author's Note:**

> The story Seishin tells Toshio is an ancient Greek myth about Ganymede, once a Trojan prince, whom Zeus carried off in a fit of amorous passion. The King of the Olympians made Ganymede his immortal cupbearer. Seishin seemed very knowledgable about western myths and legends, so I thought he might know this one. :)


End file.
